Would you use your left hand to cut off your right leg? The question seems silly, because if we are emotionally healthy, we would never conceive of inflicting bodily harm to ourselves. It is apparent to us that we will not benefit by harming ourselves. However, when it comes to treating others, we take on a different position. That violence comes up in our thoughts, maybe even in words and actions. As long as we see “others”, that will be a challenge for us to not harm them.
The environment is one such “other”. We think the environment is a resource for us to exploit. And so we cut down her trees, we wipe out her oceans, we pollute her air. In reality, what we do to the Earth is like cutting off our right leg with our left arm— we harm only ourselves. The biggest contributor of environmental destruction is animal agriculture. As detailed thoroughly in the documentary Cowspiracy, when we consume animal products, we emit greenhouse gases that are far more than all transportation combined. It’s time we shift the way we treat the environment. Instead of thinking that the Earth belongs to us, we have to start realizing that it is we— all beings— who belong to the Earth. We can take concrete actions to support this mindset. The easiest way we can do this is by switching to a completely plant-based diet. Would we use our left hand to cut off our right leg? Of course not! Then let’s stop using our human intelligence to destroy our environment. Neither make any sense. Neither our body nor the entire planet we live in is an “other”.
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